Research Skills
STATISTICS AND LANGUAGE
NAJWA ALGHAMDI
Outline
 Research Statistics
 Academic Writing
 Project Fair.
Research Statistic
Why ?
 In analytical work, the most important common
operation is the comparison of data, or sets of data,
to quantify accuracy (bias) and precision.
 Fortunately, with a few simple convenient statistical
tools most of the information needed in regular
laboratory work can be obtained: the "t-test, the "Ftest", and regression analysis.
Research Statistic
 Basic Statistic
 Mean
 Standard deviation
 Propagation of errors
 Statistic Tests
 Two-sided vs. one-sided test
 F-test for precision
 t-Tests for bias Linear correlation and regression
 Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
Basic Statistics
 Mean
 The average of a set of n data xi:
 Standard deviation (SD)
 used to measure of the
spread or dispersion
of data around the mean.
Standard Deviation
 What SD can tell?
 A low standard deviation means that most of the numbers are
very close to the average.
 A high standard deviation means that the numbers are spread
out.
 Standard deviation is also used to measure how close a
reported number is to being exactly right. For example, the
standard deviation is used to find margin of error in opinion
poll numbers
Standard Deviation
 The average height for grown men in the United
States is 70", with a standard deviation of 3".
 A standard deviation of 3” means that most men
(about 68%, assuming a normal distribution) have a
height 3" taller to 3” shorter than the average (67"–
73") — one standard deviation.
 If the standard deviation were zero, then all men
would be exactly 70" tall. If the standard deviation
were 20", then some men would be much taller or
much shorter than the average, with a typical range
of about 50"–90".
Standard Deviation
Statistical tools
 In analytical work a frequently recurring operation is
the verification of performance by comparison of
data. Some examples of comparisons in practice are:
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- performance of two instruments, - performance of two
methods,
- performance of a procedure in different periods,
- performance of two analysts or laboratories,
 Some of the most common and convenient statistical
tools to quantify such comparisons are the F-test, the
t-tests, and regression analysis.
Statistical tools
 In analytical work a frequently recurring operation is
the verification of performance by comparison of
data. Some examples of comparisons in practice are:

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- performance of two instruments, - performance of two
methods,
- performance of a procedure in different periods,
- performance of two analysts or laboratories,
 Some of the most common and convenient statistical
tools to quantify such comparisons are the F-test, the
t-tests, and regression analysis.
 In short, each of these five tests is a statistical
comparison of two (or more) MEANS, the
averages that you get from each separate
GROUP in your experiment or field study.
T-test
 Standard ttest
 for use when you
 are comparing the means from exactly TWO Groups, such as the Control
Group versus the Experimental Group.
Example :
 Your experiment is studying the effect of exposing users to noise while recording
BCI experiment on accuracy and the other group is not.
 Your experimint is studyifng the affect of select read color in interface on users
perception and compare it with group who is not exposed to read color.
 After you have calculated the average growth for each of the two
groups, run a T test to see if you have detected a “statistically
significant” difference in their growth.
 The T test returns a p value that expresses the probability that this
null hypothesis is wrong:
 Ho: GC = GE
 …where G stands for mean growth (control vs. experimental)
Paired t test
 Paired t test
 – An extremely powerful test for detecting
differences (it is, in fact, the most “sensitive” of all
our five tests).
 It is usually used for “Before vs. After” type
experiments, where the same individuals are
measured before and after the application of some
sort of treatment.
 Example : measure the effect of using Quran
application on children.
OneWay ANOVA
 OneWay ANOVA – Similar to a ttest,
 except that this test can be used to compare the
means from THREE OR MORE groups
 (ttests can only compare TWO groups at a time, and
for statistical reasons it is generally considered
“illegal” to use ttests over and over again on different
groups from a single experiment).
TwoWay ANOVA
 TwoWay ANOVA – A very useful statistical
test
 because it’s allows you to compare the means of
TWO OR MORE groups in response to TWO
DIFFERENT INDEPENDENT VARIABLES.
 With this test available, you can set up an
experiment in which each member of your sample is
exposed to a varying level of two different
treatments!!!
Linear Regression
 Linear Regression – One of the most
common and useful statistical tests.
 This is for comparing the means of Groups along a
continuum of THREE OR MORE treatment
levels, such as a gradually increasing level of
noise.
http://www.cbgs.k12.va.us/cbgsdocument/research/Stats%20For%20Dummies.pdf
ACADEMIC Writing
Academic Writing
 Introducing Work
 Referring to the Literature
 Being Critical
 Describing Methods
 Reporting Results
 Discussing Findings
 Writing Conclusions
Introducing Work
 There are many ways to introduce an academic essay or
assignment. Most academic writers, however, appear to
do one or more of the following in their introductions:
1. establish the context, background and/or importance of
the topic
2. indicate a problem, controversy or a gap in the field of
study
3. state of the purpose of the essay/writing
4. provide an overview of the coverage and/or structure of
the writing
Introducing Work
 Establishing the importance of the topic:
 One of the most significant current discussions in … is
 It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the ....
 X is a common disorder characterised by ......
 X is an increasingly important area in>>
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Highlighting a problem in the field of study:
However, these rapid changes are having a serious effect ......
However, a major problem with this kind of application is ......
Lack of X has existed as a health problem for many years.
Despite its safety and efficacy, X suffers from several major
drawbacks:
There is increasing concern that some Xs are being
disadvantaged ......
Introducing Work
 Highlighting a knowledge gap in the field of study
 So far, however, there has been little discussion about ......
 However, far too little attention has been paid to ......
 Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small
number of areas.
 Focus, aim, argument:
 This paper will focus on/examine/give an account of ......
 This essay seeks to remedy these problems by analyisng the
literature of ......
 The objectives of this research are to determine whether ......
Introducing Work
 Outline of structure:
 The main questions/issues addressed in this paper are:
a), b and c).
This paper has been divided into four parts. The first part
deals with ......
The essay has been organised in the following way.
This paper first gives a brief overview of the recent
history of X.
This paper reviews the evidence for .....
This paper begins by ...... It will then go on to ......
The first section of this paper will examine ......
Finally, .......
Referring to Literature
 One important characteristic of academic writing is
that all the sources of information that the writer has
used need to be indicated, not just as a bibliography
or list of references, but also in or alongside the text.
 In some cases the source will be the main subject of
the sentence, in others the sources may be
mentioned parenthetically (in brackets) or via a
notation system (eg. footnotes).
Referring to Literature
1. General Description of the literature
2. General reference to previous
research/scholarly activity (usually more
than one author
3. Reference to single investigations or
publications in the past
General descriptions of the relevant
literature
 A considerable amount of literature has been published
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on X. These studies ......
There is a large volume of published studies describing
the role of ……
The first serious discussions and analyses of X emerged
during the 1970s with ......
During the past 30 years much more information has
become available on ......
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of
literature on .......
A large and growing body of literature has investigated
......
General reference to previous research/scholarly
activity (usually more than one author)
 Many research papers have argued that ...... (eg. Jones, 1987; Johnson,
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1990; Smith, 1994)
Recent evidence suggests that ....... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999; Johnson,
2001)
Recently, studies have shown that (Patel et al., 1997; Jones et al., 1998).
Surveys such as that conducted by Smith (1988) have shown that ......
Several attempts have been made to ....... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999;
Johnson, 2001)
Several studies have revealed that it is not just X that acts on ......
(Smith, 1996; Jones .......
Several studies investigating X have been carried out on ......
Previous studies have reported ...... (Smith, 1985; Jones, 1987; Johnson,
1992).
Reference to single investigations or publications in
the past: time frame prominent
 In 1975, Smith et al. published a paper in which
they described .....
 In 1990 Patel et al. demonstrated that ..
 Smith (1974) reported cases of …
 In 1981, Smith and co workers demonstrated
that …
//Reference to single investigations in the
past: investigation prominent
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// Refer to type of research method
Preliminary work on X was undertaken by AbdulKarim (1992).
The first systematic study of X was reported by Patel et al. in 1986.
The study of the structural behavior of X was first carried out by
Rao et al. (1986)......
Analysis of the genes involved in X was first carried out by Smith et
al (1983).
A recent study by Smith and Jones (2001) involved ......
A longitudinal study of X by Smith (2002) reports that ......
A small scale study by Smith (2002) reaches different conclusions,
finding no increase in ......
Smith's comparative study (2002) found that ......
//Reference to single investigations in the
past: research topic as subject
 Classical conditioning was first demonstrated
experimentally by Pavlov (Smith, 2002). In his
seminal study ......
 The electronic spectroscopy of X was first
studied by Smith and Douglas 1 in 1970
 The acid-catalyzed condensation reaction
between X and Y was first reported by Baeyer in
1872
 X formed the central focus of a study by Smith
(2002) in which the author found ......
//Reference to what other writers do in
their text (author as subject)
//From where
 In her major study,
 In her seminal article,
 In her classic critique of ...
 In her case study of ......,
 In her review of ......,
 In her analysis of ......,
 In her introduction to ......,
//What
 Smith (2003) identifies poor food,
bad housing..
 Rao (2003) lists three reasons why ..
 Smith (2003) traces the
development of Japanese history..
 Jones(2003) provides in-depth
analysis of the work ..
 Smith (2003) draws attention to
distinctive categories ...
 Smith (2003) defines …
 Rao (2003) highlights the need TO..
 Smith (2003) discusses the
challenges ....
 Toh (2003) mentions the situation
of..
 Smith (2003) questions whether
 Smith (2003) considers whether
 Smith (2003) uses examples of
Reference to other writers' ideas (author
as subject)
 According to Smith (2003), preventative
medicine is ...
 Smith (2003)
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points out
argues
maintains
claims
concludes
suggests that
Advise
 Build Up your own dictionary
 Collect verbs that describes the literature
 Ensure the variety of words selection.
 Be selective in choosing word.
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Criticism doesn’t imply complementing other work
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Investigate VS highlight
Great work , fantastic finding , ridiculous claim
When describe other work finding , void adjective like
significantly , positively , negatively.
Avoid I.
Being Critical
 As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the
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sources that you use.
This essentially means questioning what you read and not
necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has
been published.
Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we
should not just accept something as being correct or true.
This can require you to identify problems with a writer's
arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other
people's criticisms of these.
Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in
which a piece of research or writing could be improved.
Being Critical
 What to criticize
1.
Theory
2.
Methodology
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How to identify study weakness.
Offer constructive criticism
Highlighting inadequacies of previous
studies
Mention others’ criticism
Introducing questions, problems and
limitations (theory)
 One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether
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......
A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that
......
One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does
not explain why... .
One criticism of much of the literature on X is that ......
The key problem with this explanation is that ......
The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction
between X and Y.
However, there is an inconsistency with this argument.
Introducing questions, problems and
Limitations (method/practice)
 Another problem with this approach is that it fails to take X into account.
 Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that .....
 Difficulties arise, however, when an attempt is made to implement the
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policy.
One major drawback of this approach is that ......
The main limitation of biosynthetic incorporation, however, is ......
However, this method of analysis has a number of limitations.
However, approaches of this kind carry with them various well known
limitations.
All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that .......
However, there are limits to how far the idea of/concept of X can be taken.
However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that......
However, one of the problems with the instrument the researchers used to
measure X was ......
Common words
 Key words
 Limitations
 Weaknesses
 Disadvantages
 Drawbacks
 pitfalls
Identifying a study's weakness
However,
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the main weakness of the study is the failure to
address how .......
the study fails to consider the differing categories of
damage that .....
the research does not take into account pre-existing
...... such as ......
the author offers no explanation for the distinction
between X and Y.
Smith makes no attempt to differentiate between
various different types of X.
Jones fails to fully acknowledge the significance
of ......
the paper would appear to be over ambitious in its
claims.
the author overlooks the fact that X contributes
to Y.
what Smith fails to do is to draw a distinction between
......
another weakness is that we are given no
explanation of how ......
no attempt was made to quantify the
Offering constructive suggestions
source
Smith's paper
Her conclusions
The study
The findings
would have been
might have been
More
much more
far more
effect of
change
What to change
useful
convincing
interesting
persuasive
original
if he/she had if
the author had
included ......
considered ......
adopted ......
used ......
•A better study would examine a large, randomly selected sample of societies
with ......
•A much more systematic study would identify how X interacts with other
variables that are believed to be linked to ......
Highlighting inadequacies of previous
studies
 Most studies in the field of X have only focussed on ......
 Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small
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number of areas.
The generalisability of much published research on this
issue is problematic.
However, few writers have been able to draw on any
structured research into the opinions and attitudes of ......
The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than
Y.
The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction
between X and Y.
Although extensive research has been carried out on X, no
single study exists which adequately covers .....
Introducing other people's criticisms
 However, Jones (2003) points out that .....
 Many analysts now argue that the strategy of X has not
been successful. Jones (2003), for example, argues that
.....
 Smith's analysis has been criticised by a number of
writers. Jones (1993), for example, points out that ……
 Smith's meta-analysis has been subjected to considerable
criticism.
 The most important of these criticisms is that Smith
failed to note that ......
Describing Methods
 In the Methods section of a dissertation or research
article, writers give an account of how they carried
out their research.
 The Materials and Methods section should be clear
and detailed enough for another experienced person
to repeat the research and reproduce the results.
 Typical features with examples of this language are
listed below.
Describing Methods
1. Describe your method.
2. Give reasons why you chose this method.
3. Describe the charchtristic of sample
4. Indicating reasons for sample
characteristics
5. Describing the process
6. Indicating problems or limitations
Describing different methods
 To date various methods have been developed and
introduced to measure X:
 In most recent studies, X is measured in ..
 A variety of methods are used to assess X.
was adopted
 The semi-structured approach was chosen because ......
 It was decided that the best method to adopt for this
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investigation was to ......
A case study approach was chosen to allow a ......
The design of the questionnaires was based on ......
The X method is one of the more practical ways of ......
It was considered that quantitative measures would
usefully supplement and extend the qualitative analysis.
The X approach has a number of attractive features: ......
sample
 The initial sample consisted of 200 students of whom 13
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did not complete all of the interviews
All studies described as using some sort of X procedure
were included in the analysis.
All of the participants were aged between 18 and 19 at the
beginning of the study.....
Two groups of subjects were interviewed, namely X and
Y. The first group were ......
A random sample of patients with ...... was recruited
from .......
Forty-seven students studying X were recruited for this
study.
…….
Indicating reasons for sample
characteristics
 A small sample was chosen because of the expected
difficulty of obtaining ......
 The subjects were selected on the basis of a degree of
homogeneity of their .......
 Criteria for selecting the subjects were as follows:
Describing the process: infinitive of
purpose
 In order to identify the T10 and T11 spinous processes, the
subjects were asked to .
 To enable the subjects to see the computer screen clearly, the
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laptop was configured with ......
To see if the two methods gave the same measurement, the
data was plotted and ......
To control for bias, measurements were carried out by
another person.
To measure X, a question asking ...... was used.
To compare the scores three weeks after initial screening, a
global ANOVA F-test was used
Describing the process: typical verbs (note
use of passive form
 Data management and analysis was performed using
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SPSS 8.0 (1999).
Published studies were identified using a search startegy
developed in .....
The experiments were carried out over the course of the
growing period from .......
The subjects were asked to pay close attention to the
characters whenever ......
The pilot interviews were conducted informally by the
trained interviewer ......
Describing the process: sequence
words/phrases
 Prior to commencing the study, ethical clearance was
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sought from ......
In the end, the EGO was selected as the measurement
tool for the current study.
After "training", the subjects were told that the
characters stood for X and that their task was to .......
After collection, the samples were shipped back to X in
......
After conformational analysis of X, it was necessary to
......
Finally, questions were asked as to the role of ......
Indicating problems or limitations
 In this investigation there are several sources for
error. The main error is ......
 Another major source of uncertainty is in the method
used to calculate X..
 It was not possible to investigate the significant
relationships of X and Y further because the sample
size was too small.
 Further data collection is required to determine
exactly how X affects Y.
Reporting Results
 The standard approach to this section of a dissertation is to
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merely present the results, without elaborate discussion or
comment.
This does not mean that you do not need any text to describe
data presented in tables and figures.
Writers usually comment on the significant data presented in
the tables and figures.
This often takes the form of the location or summary
statement, which identifies the table or figure and indicates its
content.
This is normally followed by a statement or statements which
point out and describe the relevant or significant data.
All your tables should be numbered and given a title.
Reporting Results
Reference to method.
2. Summary statement.
1.
Reference to aim/method
 To assess X, the Y questionnaire was used.
 To distinguish between these two possibilities, ......
 To compare the scores three weeks after initial screening, a global
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ANOVA F-test was used
In order to assess Z, repeated measures of ANOVA were used.
Regression analysis was used to predict the ......
Changes in X and Y were compared using ......
The average scores of X and Y were compared in order to ......
Nine items on the questionnaire measured the extent to which ......
The correlation between X and Y was tested.
T-tests were used to analyse the relationship between ......
Comparisons between the two groups were made using unrelated ttests.
Location and summary statements:
Source
Table 1
Figure 1
information
Shows
compares
presents
provides
the experimental data on X.
the results obtained from the
preliminary analysis of X.
the inter-correlations among the
nine measures of X.
Highlighting significant data in a
table/chart
 It is apparent from this table that very few ......
 This table is quite revealing in several ways. First, unlike the other tables
......
 Data from this table can be compared with the data in Table 4.6 which
shows ......
 From the data in Figure 9, it is apparent that the length of time left between
......
 From this data we can see that Study 2 resulted in the lowest value of ......
 The histogram in Fig 1. indicates that ......
 What is interesting in this data is that ......
 In Fig.10 there is a clear trend of decreasing ......
 As Table III shows, there is a significant difference (t = -2.15, p = 0.03)
between the two groups.
// refer to IELTS writing
Statements of result
(positive)
 Strong evidence of X was found when ......
 This result is significant at the p = 0.05 level.
 There was a significant positive correlation between ......
There was a signifcant difference between the two
conditions ......
(negative)
 There was no increase of X associated with .....
There were no significant differences between ......
No significant differences were found between .....
No increase in X was detected.
No difference greater than X was observed.
Highlighting significant, interesting or
surprising results
 The most striking result to emerge from the data is
that ......
 Interestingly, this correlation is related to .....
The correlation between X and Y is interesting
because ......
 The more surprising correlation is with the ......
 The single most striking observation to emerge from
the data comparison was
Reporting results from questionnaires
and interviews
 The response rate was 60% at six months and 56% at 12 months.
 Of the study population, 90 subjects completed and returned the
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questionnaire.
Of the initial cohort of 123 students, 66 were female and 57 male.
Thirty-two individuals returned the questionnaires.
The majority of respondents/those who responded felt that .....
Over half of those surveyed reported that ......
Approximately half of those surveyed did not comment on ......
A small number of those interviewed suggested that ......
A minority of participants (17%) indicated ......
In response to Question 1, most of those surveyed indicated that ......
The overall response to this question was very positive.
When the subject were asked ......, the majority commented that .....
Other responses to this question included ......
The overall response to this question was poor.
Discussions
 In academic writing, it usually refers to two types of
activity:
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considering both sides of an issue, or question,
considering the results of research and the implications of
these.
 Discussion sections in dissertations and research
articles are probably the most complex in terms of
their elements.
Discussion
 Background information.
 Reference to previous research
 Explanations for results
 Suggestions for future work
Background information (reference to
literature or to research aim/question)
 A strong relationship between X and Y has been reported
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in the literature.
Prior studies that have noted the importance of ......
In reviewing the literature, no data was found on the
association between X and Y.
As mentioned in the literature review, ......
Very little was found in the literature on the question of
.....
This study set out with the aim of assessing the
importance of X in
Reference to previous research (support)
 This study produced results which corroborate the
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findings of a great deal of the previous work in this
field.
The findings of the current study are consistent with
those of Smith and Jones (2001) who found ......
This finding supports previous research into this
brain area which links X and Y.
This study confirms that X is associated with ......
This finding corroborates the ideas of Smith and
Jones (2008), who suggested that
Reference to previous research
(contradict)
 However, the findings of the current study do not
support the previous research.
 This study has been unable to demonstrate that ......
 However, this result has not previously been
described.
 In contrast to earlier findings, however, no evidence
of X was detected.
Explanations for results
 There are several possible explanations for this result.
 These differences can be explained in part by the proximity of X and
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Y.
A possible explanation for this might be that .....
Another possible explanation for this is that ......
This result may be explained by the fact that ...../ by a number of
different factors.
It is difficult to explain this result, but it might be related to ......
This inconsistency/discrepancy may be due to ......
This rather contradictory result may be due to ......
These factors may explain the relatively good correlation between X
and Y.
Suggestions for future work
 However, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken before
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the association between X and Y is more clearly understood.
Further research should be done to investigate the ......
Research questions that could be asked include .....
Future studies on the current topic are therefore recommended.
A further study with more focus on X is therefore suggested.
Further studies, which take these variables into account, will need
to be undertaken.
Further work is required to establish this.
In future investigations it might be possible to use a different X in
which ......
This is an important issue for future research.
Writing Conclusions
 Conclusions are shorter sections of academic texts which
usually serve two functions.
1. The first is to summarise and bring together the main
areas covered in the writing, which might be called
"looking back";
2. and the second is to give a final comment or judgement
on this. The final comment may also include making
suggestions for improvement and speculating on future
directions.
 Conclusions may be optional in research articles where
consolidation of the study and general implications are
covered in the Discussion section. However, they are
usually expected in dissertations and essays.
Conclusion
Summarizing the content
 This paper has given an account of and the reasons for the widespread use
of X ......
 This essay has argued that X is the best instrument to ......
 This assignment has explained the central importance of X in Y.
 This dissertation has investigated ......
Restatement of aims (research)
 This study set out to determine ......
 The present study was designed to determine the effect of .......
 In this investigation, the aim was to assess ......
 The purpose of the current study was to determine ......
Summarizing the findings (research)
 This study has shown that ......
 These findings suggest that in general ......
Conclusion
Limitations of the current study (research)
 Finally, a number of important limitations need to be
considered. First, ......
 A number of caveats need to be noted regarding the present
study.
 The most important limitation lies in the fact that ......
 Recommendations for further work (research)
 This research has thrown up many questions in need of
further investigation.
 Further work needs to be done to establish whether ......
 It is recommended that further research be undertaken in the
following areas:
Project Fair
Reference
 http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/